I’m relocating to Columbus for employment and am looking for affordable housing on Columbus’ north side, in the area around Rt. 161 and Cleveland ave … is this a SAFE AREA in which to live? The rentals in that particular area are “shockingly” affordable … is there a crime problem that has driven down the rentals?? I’m also very interested in the “Clintonville” district … hoping to hear your feedback! Thanks -

babeblueboijohn@aol.com wrote >>
I’m relocating to Columbus for employment and am looking for affordable housing on Columbus’ north side, in the area around Rt. 161 and Cleveland ave … is this a SAFE AREA in which to live? The rentals in that particular area are “shockingly” affordable … is there a crime problem that has driven down the rentals?? I’m also very interested in the “Clintonville” district … hoping to hear your feedback! Thanks -

The 161 corridor doesn’t seem too bad. There’s a huge concentration of Somalian refugees in that area, which seems to put some people off, and gives the area a much worse reputation than it deserves. There is a really good taco truck (Taco Nazo) out there, a shopping center that is the hotspot for ethnic eats in Columbus (Columbus Square), and the best Italian grocery in town (Carfagna’s). Morse Rd and Cleveland Ave in particular (in the Linden area) are much less safe.

As far as I know, Clintonville is pretty safe, and I know there are folks on CU who live there who can speak more to which areas are safe/which to avoid.

Do you know yet which part of town you’ll be working in? Traffic may cause commute times to be much longer than you expect, so you may want to take your work location into consideration when picking somewhere to live, especially given the amount of construction going on.

Anyway, welcome to Columbus! I’m also a transplant (New Jersey native), and have come to regard Columbus as home. It really is a great place to live, as you’ll soon find out.

if you go to http://www.columbuspolice.org/Reports/ you can view crime reports. If you click past the disclaimer page you can look by location. Click on that and then “select a zone” will take you to a map you wish to look into. click on one of the sections of the map… 161 at cleveland is ‘zone 1′… then you can select a precinct (161 and cleveland is 18). You can get down to a “cruiser district” if you want, or you can click the link at the top to view all reports in precinct. When you select the area you can “select last 7 days”, which is the longest time you can do. Then you can select to narrow it down by type if you want.

You’ll see from there that precinct 18 sees a LOT of crime. To get a feel for relative rates, compare that to (for example) zone 4, precinct 1 (short north area) and you can compare the number of reports in an area with a similar sized population.

CDS sherman wrote >>
i would never live at cleveland and 161 if i didnt have to. not so much because of the crime, but rather the lack of walkable amenities and being out in the middle of no where.

The traffic can be a pain in the arse too. ThatÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s one thing I love about being close to downtown. The people in Clintonville, Hilltop, Victorian Village, and the rest we can get from here to there quick. A million different ways and back ways all wile avoiding the death pit traffic issues in someplace like Sawmill.

CDS sherman wrote >>
i would never live at cleveland and 161 if i didnt have to. not so much because of the crime, but rather the lack of walkable amenities and being out in the middle of no where.

The traffic can be a pain in the arse too. ThatÃ¢â‚¬â„¢s one thing I love about being close to downtown. The people in Clintonville, Hilltop, Victorian Village, and the rest we can get from here to there quick. A million different ways and back ways all wile avoiding the death pit traffic issues in someplace like Sawmill.

I’ve gone door-to-door in some of the apartment complexes up off of Cleveland Ave. (although more around Cleveland & Morse than Cleveland & 161) for political canvassing. A lot of them look like they were really nice and new in the 1970s, but are in pretty bad shape now. I don’t think it’s an area I’d want to rent an apartment in if I had other options.

Worthington has a very walkable downtown and is very safe. It also has a good school system if that is of any importance to you. It is due north on 161 and High Streets, surrounded in large part by Columbus.

Sadly the whole 161 corridor from Sinclair to the outerbelt is not such a nice area anymore. I remember when it was the place to be back in the day. How quickly things change.

If you want relatively inexpensive suburban apartments, I’d check out ones along Bethel Road. If you want something more urban or with character (but still quite safe), try looking in the area around Grandview Heights. My walk score is 86 (epic win).